What We Do

As the official Destination Management Organisation for the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley our aims are to raise awareness, grow tourism and promote our members. We do this in a number of ways:

Marketing

• We run the consumer website www.visitdeanwye.co.uk which generates around 370,000 unique visitors per year and highlights our members to visitors
• We generate high profile press coverage and organise press visits featuring our members (for example see this recent National Geographic piece)
• We have active social media accounts and profile our members on them (see our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram)
• We run regular marketing and advertising campaigns which our members can feature in and we provide all marketing materials to our members for free (for example see our recent autumn Leaf Peeping campaign here)
• We send out a consumer newsletter each month with news stories and features on our members
• We attend regular meetings on and participate in national and international Visit Britain, Visit England and Visit Wales campaigns, informing and engaging members to ensure they are well promoted

Member Support and Communication

• We organise regular members' meetings (4-5 per year) which provide networking opportunities, member spotlights, news and introductions and we organise inspiring speakers
• We send out a monthly members’ newsletter which has opportunities for member inclusion and send regular member emails with up-to-date information and support
• We have a closed members' Facebook group offering members the opportunity to introduce themselves, promote their business, network and hear our latest news
• We manage an extensive image library with high resolution images available to our members
• We provide members with the opportunity to advertise on our website, in our publications and in our marketing campaigns

Leadership and Business Development

• We provide strategic leadership for the tourism industry in our area
• We provide business support, networking and development opportunities for our members
• We grow tourism to this area with our website, marketing campaigns, social media and PR coverage
• We provide free advice on raising business quality standards, business regulations, local opportunities and support
• As a team of experts we have extensive visitor and business research which our members benefit from
• We provide business development workshops and training events, often subsidised
• We have regular meetings with our local councils (district and town) to share campaigns, knowledge, events and inform members
• We run trips for our MPs and other dignitaries helping to showcase members and the area (the photo below is Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper on a recent visit)
• We are much more than just an advertising platform and our members can benefit from a wide range of expertise by joining us

National and International Tourism Representation 

• We are a member of The European Tourism Association and keep our members up-to-date on policy
• We represent our member businesses and the local tourism industry at local, regional, national and international level
• We exhibit at trade shows (we exhibited at the British Tourism and Travel Show 2021) and attend many travel and tourism shows
• We attend regular Visit Britain, Visit England and Visit Wales DMO meetings
• We run familiarisation trips (the photo below shows a group from South Korea at Puzzlewood on a fam visit)
• We attend regular meetings with other DMOs in surrounding areas, sharing knowledge and experience with each other